Pallets have long been used to transport heavy and/or large loads that require lifting by industrial machines, such as fork lifts and cranes. Some loads are small units loaded in groups onto a pallet to transport large quantities of the small units simultaneously. When transporting these groups of small units, unloading the pallet is relatively easy since the small units can be removed individually from the pallet. Also in cases such as paper transporting, the load is not very sensitive to vibration and shock damage. Therefore a relatively simple and inexpensive pallet may be used.
Other loads are single large units, such as large machines, which may be transported one unit per pallet. With a single large unit, unloading the pallet after transportation of the unit becomes a complicated and expensive chore, requiring several "riggers" or persons to lift the unit from the pallet and set it on the floor. The chance of physical injury to the riggers is a concern and disadvantage when unloading and installing such large and heavy units into a customer site. Further, a large unloading area is required, as usually some type of ramping system is positioned adjacent to the pallet to roll the machine down to the floor level. When the large units contain fragile machines, some type of shock and vibration absorption system is needed during transporting and unloading. Large forces are applied to the pallet and large unit on the pallet when being lowered to the floor by a fork lift or other means. Some large machines have built in shock absorbers or additional isolators which may be built into the base of the unit or into the wheels of the unit to specifically absorb forces applied to the unit during shipping of the unit on a pallet. Alternatively or in addition to the built in system, a floating deck between the pallet and the large unit can be used to protect the large unit. In this case the floating deck is an isolation system in the pallet in order to protect the large unit. The floating deck has a disadvantage of elevating the center of gravity of the load, reducing the stability during transportation. Additionally, both the built in and the floating deck method for protecting the load increase the cost of the unit and the pallet system respectively.
Accordingly it is a general object of the invention to provide a pallet system that one person can unload a large unit from without requiring extra floor space to unload.
It is an object of the invention to provide a pallet assembly that can be disassembled and removed from the load and that can be reassembled for reuse.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a pallet system having a mechanism for lowering the unit to the floor without the need for special tools, extra floor space, or riggers.
It is an object of the invention to isolate a load being transported on a pallet from the forces, vibration, and shock experienced during transport and unloading, and to lower the center of gravity of the system thereby increasing system stability.
It is also an object of the invention to eliminate the need for auxiliary isolation systems built into a machine being transported on a shipping pallet or as an intermediate isolation system between the machine and the shipping pallet, thereby reducing the over cost of the machine or shipping system.
It is yet another object of the invention to reduce the possibility of physical injury to the persons unloading a large unit from a pallet, and also reduce the liability associated with the risk of injury.